


Reytor's Cabin

by musesmistress



Category: Legend of the Seeker
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-12-11
Updated: 2013-12-11
Packaged: 2018-01-04 09:18:14
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,163
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1079241
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/musesmistress/pseuds/musesmistress
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Richard and his friends find a cabin right out of a fairytale.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Reytor's Cabin

Kahlan paused with her back against the largest tree. Their idea of walking over the hill had seemed like something easy in the beginning, trek up to the top, have a break then head down. Quicker route back to Aydindril. It's a shame it isn't an easier way.

"Who's idea was this?" Cara complained, standing a few paces down the hill side from Kahlan.

"Yours," Kahlan retorted. Cara didn't reply.

"There's a house up here," Richard called down. He had made it almost to the top and was standing on a tree stump looking back at them.

"Remind me again," Kahlan said, pushing off from the tree. "Why it is we're in such a hurry to get back to Aydindril."

"So you and Richard can be married." Cara said. "And get to that wedding night you can't seem to wait for."

Kahlan felt the blush and decided it was best not to comment on that. The last couple of nights she and Richard had slipped out of camp, initially it was to talk, but they seemed to get distracted easily. Too easily. If it hadn't been for Cara keeping a promise not to let them get carried away before they were married...

"I know this place," Richard said. It made Kahlan stop and look up and the building. Cara stopped behind her and turned to look back down the mountain. Zedd was still a long way behind them.

"You can't know this place," Kahlan offered. "We've never been to this part of the midlands before. I didn't even know this was here."

Richard turned to look back at her, his expression full of confusion. He seemed to shrug it off and reached down for her. Taking his hand, Kahlan let him pull her the rest of the hill to the bottom of a set of stairs leading up to the house. She hesitated a moment, they didn't look very strong, the wood had turned a dark with age and she wondered if they were still strong enough to hold their weight.

Richard was a little less hesitating, his eyes fixed on the building above them he started up the stairs without noticing their decayed state. She let out a breath as he reached the top and, still unsure about their strength, started up the steps carefully.

Objects were still scattered about the front of the house and a patch of tilled ground sat unkempt with withering crops. It looked as though no one had been there for many years. Next to the crops sat a rocking chair that had decayed along one side to the point that the arm rest as handing off and the leg had started to bow in the wrong direction. It made Kahlan shiver.

"Come on old man," Cara shouted from the front of the house. Zedd's reply was muffled and something told Kahlan she didn't really want to know what he'd said.

Turning, Kahlan found Richard standing in the doorway of the house. The door had long since disappeared and stepping up behind him she could see that the shutters on the windows had tilted off their hinges and water had seeped in down the walls. There was a picture on the wall of a man in red, the water had turned it a paler shade but his features were still clear and the book he held in his hand had an unusual mark on the cover.

"Reytor's cabin," Richard whispered.

"Who?" Kahlan asked.

"It's a story my father used to tell me. Reytor's cabin was in the woods on top of the highest hill. He lived alone, aside from a cat that liked to chase the chickens. The story tells of how Reytor learned magic from the forest and learned to control it and the elements around him with it. But he had a secret too. He created something unimaginable that could turn the world upside down." Richard smiled. "I used to lay on my bed with my head hanging off the end so I could see what that would be like." Richard finally stepped inside the house and Kahlan followed him in.

"This house probably belonged to a man who didn't want to be found. I've heard of people who wanted to live in solitude," she said, moving over to the painting and running a finger over the symbol. To her surprise, that part of the painting was raised up, from the rest. "I've never seen a symbol like this before," she said. She turned away from it, looking for Richard but couldn't see him. "Richard?"

Richard took a step backwards in the next room and motioned for her to come in. She moved across to the door and stepped in. The bed in the middle of the room sat under the window, one shutter had recently fallen off and left a splash of dust across the rest of the bed a simple set of drawers sat over in one corner and just to her left Richard was opening a box that sat on top of a desk. She managed to catch sight of the same symbol as the painting on top of it before Richard had the box fully open. Kahlan was about to turn away again when Richard's brown creased in confusion.

"What is it?" she asked, moving to stand next to him. She looked down into the box, sitting on top of it was a drawing of a woman, beautiful and in a simple blue dress. She held a baby in her arms and was smiling for the artist. "Do you know her?" Kahlan asked. Richard simply nodded and she watched him swallow a few times before he managed to answer.

"She's my mother." Carefully, Kahlan reached for the picture, lifting it out of the box as if it would crumble in her fingers. "Her jewels," Richard breathed as Kahlan moved the picture. "I thought my father had sold them on one of his journeys."

Richard reached in and pulled something out from under the jewels. The leather was faded and torn, the edges had pieces missing making the book look as though it was older than the oldest tree in the world. Inside though, the pages where crisp and the ink clear as if they'd just been inked, but the letters where unusual, nothing she had ever seen before.

"Can you read that?" She asked, looking back at Richard.

"No," he said. "I've never seen this language before." He seemed contemplative for a moment before he turned to her. "You know more languages than I do, have you seen this one before."

Kahlan shook her head. "It's not a language from the midlands."

Richard closed the book again and ran his fingers over the symbol. "This symbol is on the box," he said.

"And the painting in the next room," Kahlan said. "That book is in the painting."

Richard stared at her for a moment. "I think we just found Reytor's secret."


End file.
